Vampire - When Darkness Falls Part 29

He was almost on top of them. The air around him seemed worse than foggy. It was cold. Uncomfortable. And the guy's fingers . . .

The nails were long. Bluish, or black. Weird. He didn't like the guy.

Not one bit. He'd like to sock him in that skinny jaw, take him down and beat him to a pulp.

"You're not allowed to touch me," Jimmy said.

"Really?" the guy inquired.

"Yeah, really," Jimmy said belligerently. "So get away from me, you fake-looking, slimy jerk! Did you get those fangs out of a Cracker Jack box? A gum machine?"

"A Cracker Jack box? A gum machine?" the guy repeated, and started to laugh. "Um, yes. The better to eat you all up, and lick my chops."

"I'm going to break your chops, moron, "Jimmy warned.

"Jimmy, don't!" Ca.s.sie pleaded. "Don't. This guy is obviously some kind of a psycho. Let's just get past him."

But Jimmy was a tough guy. Everyone knew it. And he was mad as h.e.l.l already because the other two-bit park employee had scared him.

"No," he told Ca.s.sie, shaking his head. "Come on, man. Come on. I play first-string tackle at State. You're a goner, buddy."

"You think?"

"I think. Come on. Come on, a.s.s-wipe. Put your money where your mouth is."

"Jimmy, no," Ca.s.sie pleaded.

The vampire smiled-a wicked grin. "Poor little girl," he told Ca.s.sie. Then he spoke straight to Jimmy. "All right. All right, gonna take me on, are you? Yeah, yeah. A hotshot football player. A tackle, no less. You come on. Tackle me."

The creature's grin deepened as Jimmy fell for the bait.

Jimmy charged hard, and with true aim. He knew his business. He'd broken a few bones in play. h.e.l.l, he meant to take it to the pros.

But it seemed that the guy moved like mercury. Jimmy struck, but he struck pure air. He went flying himself, crash-landing hard into a pile of rot meant to signify a burial mound. His head had struck something.

Dazed, he shook it. He rose. His opponent was next to Ca.s.sie.

Impossible. No one could have moved that quickly across the narrow s.p.a.ce. Not past him.

Ca.s.sie was standing dead still now, pale as a ghost, her eyes wide and luminous on the phony vampire. Jimmy let out something like a snarl. His girl was looking at this freak as if he were some kind of a G.o.d.

"You're really toast now, jerk," Jimmy threatened. He rose and charged the vampire, half afraid that if he didn't do so quickly, the fool would disappear into thin air again.

This time the vampire didn't move.

Jimmy slammed into him. It was like slamming into solid rock. Cold rock. He was instantly paralyzed. Every nerve in his body, every muscle, seemed to tremble with a strange, chilling numbness.

He'd broken his neck, he thought, and the concept was so stunning that he didn't even feel pain, grief, or horror at first.

Then he felt the creature pick him up. He felt something like a breath of fire against his cheeks. He saw the eyes.

And looked into an abyss-stygian fire, touched by a hint of bloodred flame.

The grin on the creature's face deepened. Jimmy was totally helpless. The vampire-thing opened its mouth. The Cracker Jack fangs dipped into his neck. Jimmy never screamed. Warmth surged through his broken body. He could hear the creature slurping as the warmth was drained, as total cold set in.

Until the very end, he could hear the slurping sound. A lapping . . .

Ca.s.sie . . .

Whimpering.

When he was finished with Jimmy, the vampire- refreshed, energized, renewed-lifted the football player as if he were a rag doll.

He caught hold of the big head and the shoulders and twisted.

The head came off with a pop.

Ca.s.sie still stared, a low, terrified, monotonous whine coming from her open mouth.

The vampire tossed the pieces of Jimmy aside.

She was lovely.

Very lovely.

And so, with Ca.s.sie, he took his time.

The next group of thrill seekers who came through were a mother, father, aunt, three teenagers, and a great-uncle. They clung together, scared, having fun, ducking the wafting fabric that teased from above them, jumping from each spring-loaded special effect that popped up at them. They saw the body parts. They oohed and aahed with delight.

Terror Town had done a great job. It was so incredibly grisly. The blood and guts were so very real looking.

They walked through, unmolested.

There was a tap on her coffin.

"Darcy, come on out. We're closing."

Darcy popped open her lid. It was Tony. Garish makeup made his cheeks gaunt, his eyes large. He smoothed back dark hair. "I just got a call on the walkie-talkie. They're having trouble with the lighting, and someone thinks some kids are hiding out-they came in and didn't reappear. There weren't that many people outside, so they've given rain checks. Let's go. Give me a hand, honey. I'll help you out of there." She could have gotten out okay, but rather than be blatantly rude, she accepted his hand. There were all kinds of nice guys working here; she just happened to have gotten stuck with Tony. He managed to brush her breast with his palm. The subtle grin he wore told her he had done it on purpose.

She ignored it. "Thanks," she told him, and started walking toward the rear exit.

"What's your hurry?"

"You just told me we're closing."

"Yeah, well. Soon. We could take a minute, you know. Fool around in the hay and the headstones."

"Thanks again, but no thanks," she told him.

Then she stopped, standing dead still. The new guy she had seen for the first time tonight was standing in front of her. He was in a sweeping cape. He hadn't put on any makeup, and still ... boy, something about his eyes was really still freaky. As if he were a cat. With night vision.

With glow-in-the-dark eyes.

"Darcy, Darcy, Darcy ...," Tony was saying.

Suddenly he grabbed her from behind, his arms sweeping around her. He apparently didn't realize that she had stopped for a reason- that their path was blocked.

He seemed to think that she wanted to take him up on his offer to fool around in the hay after all.

"Come on, Darcy," he said huskily. "Come on, please, just give me a break. I know how you feel about me, and that you shouldn't see a guy where you're working, and that I'm kind of like the boss, being who I am and all...."

Tony was breathing heavily against her neck-s...o...b..ring on her nape. He still hadn't seen the new guy.

"What?" she said incredulously, trying to slide away from him. She answered him quietly, still staring at the caped figure ahead of her. She tried to whisper, not wanting the relative stranger to hear what was going on, although she wasn't sure why. Tony was acting like a jerk.

She didn't want to be left behind with him.

She didn't want to move forward.

"Tony," she murmured, "I really can't stand you, and I don't think that you're like the boss at all."

What was the matter with him? He was still trying to jump her bones, while there was something really wrong with the corridor.

They'd added more props. Gruesome stuff. Heads, bodies ... blood. She couldn't see well in the dim light and shadows. All she could really see were the eyes of the newcomer. They were so startling.

And suddenly he spoke.

"Hey, now, enough of that," the newcomer said. He spoke lightly, teasingly. "I'm the only one who licks necks around here."

Tony was badly startled by the sound of the voice when he had thought himself alone with Darcy. He straightened and tensed like a springboard.

"What the h.e.l.l are you doing here? And who the h.e.l.l are you?" Tony said angrily. "I wasn't told that anyone else had been hired for this section!"

"Ah, how sad. They just don't tell you everything. And here I am, in your section. Scared, there, little boy?" the newcomer asked.

"Scared? You a.s.s! Move on, Darcy. The bosses are going to hear about this guy," Tony barked. "Go on-move."

"No, don't move, not a good idea, Darcy," the tall man said.

She wanted to move; oddly enough, at that moment, she wanted to do just exactly as Tony had told her-move, get the h.e.l.l out! But she couldn't move. She felt frozen, completely frozen. She couldn't draw her eyes from the face of the newcomer. In fact, she had done nothing but stare at him since he had arrived-and so it was hard to understand how, suddenly, he wasn't alone. There was a tall, slim, dark-haired woman at his side. She was dressed much as Darcy was herself. She was beautiful. Some logical part of Darcy's mind thought, Great contact lenses! And look! She's got them, too. Look at those eyes. So darned scary. Horrible, red, burning, compelling. . .

"Darcy?" Tony said softly. "Darcy, is this some kind of a joke?"

"No," she said under her breath.

"A bunch of you being jerks, trying to get to me-"

"No," Darcy repeated. She still couldn't tear her eyes away.

"Oh, do shut up, Tony!" the man said.

"That one is mine, I take it, darling?" the woman cooed to her companion, laughing softly. She looked Tony up and down, licked her lips, and shivered with delight. Then those eyes of hers touched Darcy.

A chill went down her spine like nothing she had ever experienced. She felt... as if she were touched. Worse. She felt as if she were being consumed. As if she were bared to the bone by those eyes. And the feeling was filthy, horrible. Those eyes ...

They touched her with evil.

They seemed to strip her down. They were awful. They somehow touched her inside and out. Invaded her. Raped her with their evil ...

"Not that I'm at all choosy as to s.e.x," the female said, her voice low, guttural ... so sensual. She compelled just as she repelled.

And I still haven't moved, Darcy thought. I can't move! It's like being stuck in a bad B movie. The fog is swirling at my feet, the lighting is shadowy and purple, I'm surrounded by tombstones, and I know that they're only foam, but they seem real, as if they could be mine, and the sound system is working just fine, and they're playing that cursed music from The Exorcist!

And . . .

They're there! She's hungry, you can feel it, so hungry, like a wolf licking her chops, looking at me, oh, G.o.d, oh, G.o.d, there's a coffin behind me, my coffin, and I'm going to die. . . .

"Mr. Frat Boy goes first," the man said, "though I'm not that choosy as to s.e.x either, my love. You know that. Ladies first, though. My little vampiress looks as sweet as chocolate. Powder blue eyes... I can feel her heart beating from here, like a rabbit, the antic.i.p.ation is so, so sweet...."

"She does look delicious," the female said softly.

"Darcy, go."

"Tony, no, you can't stay-"

"Go! You've got to go. Get out!" Tony insisted. But his voice didn't sound so a.s.sured anymore. Still. . .

"I know you!" he whispered to the newcomers.

He knew them? These were people he knew?

"What a memory, Frat Boy," the man said.

"How could he forget us darling?" the woman queried.

"Well, he'd been smoking a little weed, and jerking down hard on that Johnnie Walker," the man reminded her.

"Go!" Tony commanded Darcy. He suddenly pushed her. Pushed her hard. "Go, Darcy. Run like h.e.l.l!"

He broke the spell the hideous eyes had upon her.